No, not THAT phone company. And it wasn’t just one, but a few. For years before I hung up my CAT-5 cables for the pleasures of librarianship, I toiled away in the telecom canyons of downtown Los Angeles. I worked as a billing manager, which was a soul-destroying job, but paid my bills as I earned my library science degree.

I worked with… METADATA! Swam in it, day in and day out, for 10 years. I became expert at SQL queries. Ask me to search a number and how many calls it made, and my query would have an answer in a few seconds.

Of course, what I couldn’t tell you is to whom that number belonged. I couldn’t tell if it belonged to Ethan Kowalski of Peoria, IL, or Yves Hubbert of the Troisieme Arrondissement. I could tell you there was a call placed from Peoria to Paris, and bill accordingly. But that was about it.

What is this phone metadata of which I speak? Again, glad you asked.

The typical call detail record, or CDR, had these pertinent bits of information:

* Account number, so we knew who to bill
* Leg 1, or originating number
* Leg 2, or destination number. Combining legs 1 and 2 gave us a per minute cost.
* Call duration. That let us combine legs 1 and 2 into a billable structure.

And that was it. The account number was just that, a number. Sure, we knew who it was, but only because we had a separate database with customer information. Someone seeing our CDRs without that knowledge wouldn’t know to whom the account belong.

Legs 1 and 2 were just phone numbers. No identifying features.

And, as I said, I worked for several companies in my telecom career. All had the same basic metadata structure.

So, yes, when I created a bill, I would know whom Ethan Kowalski of Peoria, IL called. But that’s because I had information in a database which was not included in the raw metadata. And as far as I’ve read, all that the NSA had was raw metadata.

The NSA doesn’t know who Ethan Kowalski of Peoria, IL, is from the collected metadata. That information isn’t included. However, it does have knowledge of numbers belonging to Taliban militants in the Swat Valley. And the only time Ethan Kowalski of Peoria, IL would come up on the NSA’s radar is if one of the numbers belonging to that militant in the Swat Valley was linked to his number. The only reason Yves Hubber of Paris, France would come up on the DGSE’s radar was if he made a similar call to the same militant. And for some reason, I don’t have much of a problem with that.

“Don’t tread on my metadata” is a nice slogan for people who have no idea what metadata is. The likes of Glenn Greenwald have made it sound like it’s the keys to the kingdom. It is, at most, an investigative tool, to discern patterns. Any deeper investigation would require—*gasp*—a warrant. (On top of the warrants issued to collect the raw metadata in the first place.) I know, Edward Snowden wants you to think that NSA operatives are running around running wiretaps willy nilly. But, again, none of the document dumps indicate that. One of the companies for which I worked was served with a warrant for CDRs pertaining to one of our clients, which we duly provided. You can say, “Well, that’s not how the NSA works.” To which I reply “Show me the proof; and, no, Snowden is not a reliable source.”

“You’re an Obot,” you’ll say. “You’re an apologist for the police state.” I’m an Obama supporter, so a qualified yes on the first, and no on the second. Because if you think this is a police state, you obviously have never been to one. Yes, any intelligence regime can be abused. But the possibility of abuse doesn’t automatically equate with actual abuse. If you go around thinking that the worst case scenarios are the only plausible ones, you may as well disconnect all your electronic devices.

I’ve described my knowledge of telecom metadata. I’ve actually worked with it. If you’re going to wave it around as a bloody shirt, you should at least know what you’re talking about.

Charlie Pierce was ridiculous on Stephanie Miller yesterday. In essence, it was the government’s responsbility to know and control what Freedom Industries was doing re: our safety from chemicals in the water, etc. And literally in the next breath, NSA!!!!! AHHHH!!!!!!!! Metadata!!!!!! EEEK!!!!!!!!!!! We must be totally FREE from any interference with our telephone calls. Government has NO RESPONSIBILITY for the safety of the nation. We must have total PRIVACY at any cost. The NSA should be dismantled!!!!!! And yes, he believes every phone call is being listened to all the time, by every employee of the intelligence apparatus. Not one bit of credit to PBO for being the first President ever to voluntarily scale back surveillance in any form. Unless the NSA is dismantled or be a completely open book to every yahoo in the world, then NO CREDIT. Stephanie tried to talk sense but he was having none of it. He sounded more deranged than Rand Paul.

Charlie’s logic: the government is completely responsible to keep us safe from corporations but not Al-Qaeda? Seriously, Charlie?

Anyone want to bet that he shopped at Amazon yesterday, looking forward to the ‘suggestions’ of books, music, coffeemakers, electronic equipment…….

That’s the thing that just infuriates me. People don’t know what telecom metadata is. They think it has all your most personal information. It doesn’t. Amazon and iTunes know more about you than the NSA ever would, and all without a warrant.

What particularly infuriates me is the wilful ignorance of so many. Charlie Pierce could have easilybothered to educate himself of the truth. He could read Bob Cesca or Little Green Footballs or the other substantive journalism that is readily available. I think it was his choosing to be ignorant that particularly enraged me and the childish view that any and all surveillance is corrupt. We’ve been using espionage since the beginning of the country, for God’s sake. And as the President said, we cannot choose to ignore modern digital communication.

I guess we could have a substantive argument about whether or not Snowden is a traitor (I believe he is) but the wilful ignorance to not know the first damn thing about metadata is inexcusable for an intelligent liberal writer. Charlie was shocked – shocked I tell you – that the NSA was surveilling foreign countries. That’s what the NSA is for! How stupid do you have to be to think we could stay safe without surveillance?

It’d be nice if the community of nations could hold hands and promise not to surveil each other. But, you know, that’s not what’s happening. At this very moment, the FBI is investigating foreign surveillance of the US. That’s part of its job. The idea that foreign powers can spy on us but we can’t spy on them is rather amazing.

Just the other day, Rand Paul was ranting that THE PROBLEM IS THAT THIS DATA EXISTS AT ALL!!!!!!! So I had to sit there and think about how, when I want to question that 25 cent charge for a call to Oregon, I want that data and I want that data to be accessible PDQ. Just like the Army with its tanks and guns and helicopters and ability to obliterate ANY TOWN IN AMERICA!!! in a matter of moments, the exists and it can be misused and the only question is how are we going to keep it under control.

He rails against that, too. It was a childish discussion. Anything Stephanie said, Charlie said, “But how do we know for sure?” So government is completely bad when it comes to terrorist threats, but the government is the complete answer and totally trustworthy when it comes to chemicals in the water. How does that compute?

If PBO didn’t publicly call for the NSA to be dismantled or everything the NSA does become an open book, then PBO wasn’t entitled to any credit at all. So let’s make it harder for Dem’s to keep the WH because a GOP administration is going to be a better alternative?

That’s my point exactly. But you can’t ‘trust’ the government to regulate certain things and then decide to mistrust it when you don’t like something. You can yell for complete free(dumb) and privacy when it comes to your phone calls but then want the government to protect your water supply. Here’s a newsflash, Charlie Pierce: you need surveillance of digital communications to stop the poisoning of water by terrorists. It isn’t logical to say that a terrorist attack is the price we pay for freedom and privacy, and then rail for gun control. It just strikes me as intellectually dishonest and no different than the ravings of the RWNJ’s.

Back in the day, they used to have party lines. NSA could have had a spying good time then. 🙂
It is so inconceivable to me that people actually believe people are sitting around listening to them talk to their Aunt Minnie. There are even more phones in this country than guns. Now, that’s saying something.

Last week I received an email in my maiden name, which I haven’t used for thirty years (I even stopped using my first name altogether) about the mortgage on a house I sold 25 years ago. That wasn’t NSA. If you ask me Facebook “is” NSA.

That’s the other thing that drives me crazy: Americans walk around with phones surgically attached, telling every last detail of every minute of their lives, their every thought. But metadata is so dangerous? Give me a break. We relinquish that privacy in order for a phone company to bill us. Once you are on the grid, it is outrageous and downright absurd to say the government owes us complete privacy. We’ve already given it up – it is complete insanity to think that we should unilaterally disarm so that we can be ‘free’ to get buying suggestions from Amazon but not track nefarious activity that can do great harm.

It’s also the world of super hero comic books to think that every conversation is being listened to. Smart people who think that is even possible should get the hell off the public stage. They have abdicated their brain cells to conspiracy theorists and are no better than the tea party.

Charles is off the planet about NSA – as are most journalists – they want government to be all knowing and all doing – but they have to do this without knowing anything about anyone. Only reason I can think for his approach is that Snowden was aided and abetted by a fellow “journalist”

Most of you probably don’t know how a gun is registered if you buy it through a dealer. I only know some of the questions, but they are stupid. It only takes about five minutes. You do need to show ID in WY. But if you have a concealed weapons permit you don’t have to fill out or answer paperwork. The Dealer then calls it in. You are asked if you are Hispanic or Non-Hispanic. You’re also asked what race you are. It had white, not Caucasian which surprised me. I just thought it singled out Hispanics which really irritated my Hubby and me. Oh, anyone in WY can carry a concealed weapon so that’s also a stupid question.

LL your explanation, illustration, pretty much is how I understand what it is that Data-mining is.

The thing that I fail to understand by those who are so loud about this is that Edward Snowden worked for a private entity. He deliberately went in for 3 months and stole information…..Classified information.

In April 2013, right after the Boston Marathon Bombings many asked why were those bombers not caught earlier. Well if the gov’t was listening to their calls and monitoring as many of these critics charge, then I will listen to their version of how US gov’t collects and stores data. But what is lacking is a thorough explanation, educating the vast members of the US public. So long as there are gaps in explaining what US gov’t does, misinformation grows and cynicism by the public continues. The cure is simple. Educating US Citizens.

Quite an insightful and uplifting read. Thanks for sharing, 57. Me thinks Christie’s “goose is cooked.” It may take awhile. In fact, sure it will, but in the end, I believe he’s done…..and I bet more people/stories will be found.

The Rutgers-Eagleton poll, released today, shows 46 percent of voters view the Republican governor favorably, while 43 percent have an unfavorable view about two weeks after e-mails surfaced that appear to link a top Christie aide to the bridge controversy.

The first figure is a 19-point drop from the group’s last survey, in November, when 65 percent of voters saw Christie favorably just before he was re-elected in a landslide.

////

Folks are not as Fatuous as the Media Love affair for Christie would like Us to believe.

A Special Prayer for Mr. Nickelby and his loving family;
57andfemale, Mr. 57, Kasper and pretty girl Miss Pearl

Heavenly Father,

Please help Mr. and Mrs. 57 as they care for Mr. Nickelby.
You have made them stewards of (Nickelby, Kasper and pretty girl Pearl). You have given them compassion and love to care for these precious animals.

If it is Your will, please restore Mr. Nickelby; giving him complete healing and strength in his body that is now enduring pain.
Please comfort and strengthen [Mr. Nickelby] during his illness. Ease his fear and pain, and guide the vet and all caring for him, that he may recover fully, and return to his playmates (healed), and the family that loves him dearly.

metadata is good for one thing only: brute force data mining. And the data mining is looking for patterns, or for numbers which the NSA already knows because it’s been given it by investigations from other agencies. Which require, yes, warrants.

Thank you, Library Lady. It’s good to have these things explained. People have a tendency to jump on the “worst possible scenario” bandwagon. I have no problem with the NSA looking at metadata; in fact, I think it’s a good idea. Had the Bushies paid more attention to what the intelligence community was telling them, then 9/11 might have been avoided. We have to be a vigilant nation. That is not the same as being a “police state” as some of the extremists on both ends of the political spectrum would have us believe. Maybe it the news media had explained metatdata at the start of this NSA kerfluffle, people would not have gotten so disturbed. So, thanks again.